Ecological Protection of Qinghai-Tibet Railway

Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the highest and youngest plateau above the sea level. The protection of the ecological environment on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is of great significance for the general environment of China and South Asia. The primitive ecological environment on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau enjoys important status in the global environment. The ecological environment on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is characterized by cold, special, primitive and weak. The construction of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway had to take the ecological environment into full consideration, including the protection of the high-cold vegetation, the protection of the endangered wild animals, the protection of the plateau lakes and wetland ecosystem, the protection of the permafrost environment and the natural plateau landscape, the control of the water and soil loss, and the pollution prevention on Tibet Plateau.

Ecological Protection of Qinghai-Tibet Railway – Effective Measures

The designers and engineers of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau adopted a series of measures to ensure the stability of the taele area and keep the rivers and lakes away from pollution. The migration of the wild animals is also ensured through effective methods. An investment of 1.54 billion RMB has been put into the protection of the ecological protection of Qinghai-Tibet Railway in the earlier period. According to the monitoring results of the environmental protection departments, the construction and operation of Qinghai-Tibet Railway has little influence on the water quality in the rivers and lakes. There is no obvious change in the taele areas, the migration of the wild animals and the natural views along the railway were little influenced.

A special fund of 1.54 billion RMB has been invested in the relevant ecological protection during the 5-year construction of Qinghai-Tibet Railway and that investment takes about 4.7 percent of the total investment of Qinghai-Tibet Railway. At the same time, large scale grass planting was carried out along the sections of Qinghai-Tibet Railway in Tuotuo River Area, Ando Area, Damgxung Area and some other areas with an altitude of more than 4500 meters. 33 different patterns of passageways for the wild animals were settled along Qinghai-Tibet Railway to ensure the regular migration of the wild animals on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Ecological Protection of Qinghai-Tibet Railway – Monitoring Results

According to the monitoring results provided by the environmental protection departments in Qinghai Province and Tibet Autonomous Region, the construction of Qinghai-Tibet Railway did not has much effect on the water quality of the rivers or the lakes. The vegetation, taele and wetland environment protection were effectively protected. The migration condition of the wild animals and the natural landscapes along Qinghai-Tibet Railway were not violated. All these results show that the adopted ecological protection measures acquire great achievements during the construction of Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

The waste emission along Qinghai-Tibet Railway is also strictly controlled. The environment friendly solar energy acts as the main power supply in the main railway stations along Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The waste on the enclosed Qinghai-Tibet Railway will only be released at certain stations with advanced refusetreater. The sanitary sewage at the railway stations would also be processed before released.